The national futsal team’s unbeaten run in official matches lasted seven years, two months and 21 days. It was a series that started after the defeat in the semi-finals of the 2016 World Cup against Argentina, which would eventually become world champions, lasted 45 games and ended yesterday in Tbilisi, where the corner team was defeated by Georgia (1 -2) nor a qualifying match for the 2024 World Cup, for which Portugal had already secured qualification.
On this victorious journey, the team led by Jorge Braz became two-time European champions (2018 and 2022) and world champions (2021), having also won the Continental Final (2022).
These 45 unbeaten matches even started badly, as in the third qualifying match of the 2016 World Cup, the national team drew 2-2 against Iran, after ultimately losing in the penalty shoot-out (3-4). This was the first of seven draws in these seven years, something that only Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Morocco, Kazakhstan and Spain can be proud of. However, the Spanish team didn’t have much to smile about as they ultimately lost on penalties in the final of the Continental Final, which in practice is the intercontinental cup between the best teams from Europe and South America.
Interestingly, Portugal even took the lead in yesterday’s match through a goal from Sporting’s Hugo Neves early in the second half, after Pany Varela had hit the crossbar before half-time and Kutchy had sent the ball through twice. the messages.
However, Georgia’s response was convincing: eleven minutes later the equalizer was achieved through Chimba, one of the two Brazilians naturalized as Georgians, and the result was reversed in the closing stages with a goal by Giorgi Ghavtadze.
This result prevents the national team from ending the qualifying phase with only victories, in a group that also included Finland and Armenia.
However, selector Jorge Braz underestimated the end of this undefeated cycle. “Records aren’t important, it’s about titles,” he started by saying, admitting that no one wants to lose, but it was inevitable: “It happened and it would happen someday.” And in this sense, the coach responsible for this series and the titles won so far acknowledged that the team this time “was not effective”, but emphasized that the most important thing is to “start preparing for the final phase of the World Cup”. .
It should be noted that Portugal will defend the title of world champion won in Lithuania in 2021 in Uzbekistan between September 14 and October 10 next year. In addition to the Quinas team and the organizing team, Kazakhstan, France, Spain, Ukraine and New Zealand have already qualified, with many qualifications still unknown as the tournament is played by 24 teams.
Source: DN
